BILOXI, Miss. -- Southern Gardening host, columnist and Mississippi State University Extension Service horticulturist Gary Bachman has been elected a Fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science.

Bachman, who also works with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, is a member of the 56th Annual Class of Fellows to receive this distinction in recognition of outstanding contributions to the science, profession or industry of horticulture. He will be honored in a July 22 ceremony at the American Society for Horticultural Science annual meeting in Las Vegas.

Election as a Fellow of the Society is the highest honor that ASHS can bestow on its members, in recognition of truly outstanding contributions to horticulture and the Society. This Fellow designation follows on the heels of Bachman earning a 2019 Great American Gardener Award from the American Horticultural Society.

“We are extremely proud of Dr. Bachman for receiving this well-deserved recognition that emphasizes what a truly great asset he is to the Extension Service and the state,” said James Henderson, director of the MSU Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi.

Bachman is a horticulturist with the MSU Extension Service working from the Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi. He is the award-winning host of the MSU Extension Service’s Southern Gardening, available on television and radio, in newspaper columns and on social media outlets.

Bachman earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Clemson University and then his doctorate from The Ohio State University. Before coming to MSU, Bachman was on the faculty at Tennessee Technological University and Illinois State University.